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What's Happening in the Hip Hop World?
June 2011
In a statement to AllHipHop, Dexter Isaac calls Jimmy Henchmen a government informant and takes responsibility for robbing and shooting Tupac Shakur in 1994.
In 1994, Tupac Shakur was shot during a robbery while entering New York’s Quad Studios. After sustaining five gunshot wounds, Shakur would check himself out of the hospital and attend the sexual abuse trial that would send him to jail one year later. Until his death, ‘Pac maintained that Notorious B.I.G. and Sean Combs were somehow connected to the shooting. He named former B.I.G. associate James “Henchmen” Rosemond in the song “Against All Odds.”
On Wednesday, Dexter Isaac told AllHipHop.com that Rosemond paid him $2,500 to rob Shakur. In addition to claiming Rosemond was a government informant, Isaac also cast doubt on Sean Combs. Rosemond the onetime manager of Game, Shyne and Gucci Mane, is currently wanted by the DEA.
“In 1994, James Rosemond hired me to rob 2Pac Shakur at the Quad Studio,” Isaac said via written statement. “He gave me $2500 plus all the jewelry I took, except for one ring, which he wanted for himself. It was the biggest of the two diamond rings that we took. He said he wanted to put the stone in a new setting for his girlfriend at the time, Cynthia Ried. I still have as proof the chain that we took that night in the robbery.”
Chuck Phillips named both Combs and Rosemond in conjunction with the 2Pac shooting in a 2008 Los Angeles Times report. Both Combs and Rosemond would vehemently deny any involvement, and the report was later retracted. While authorities have not named either man in the Shakur shooting, Rosemond faces up to 20 years in prison on drug distribution charges
Rapper Gets Prison Time For Cop-Killing Song
August 12th, 2009 | Author: Salima Koroma
When rapper Antavio Johnson wrote the song "Kill Me A Cop" in his teen years and uploaded it onto a Myspace page, the possibility of future consequences was certainly not expected. Now, years later, Johnson according to authorities, the 20-year-old rapper expressed his desire to kill two Lakeland, Florida officials in the song, which detectives found while researching gang-related activity on Myspace.com. On the track, Johnson calls the two officers out by name--one male and one female-- and claims that they had harassed him during an earlier incident. In the song, Johnson announces, "I'ma kill me a cop one day," and threatens to shoot the officers in the "dome" with a "glock" if they ever "get my timing wrong."
Already serving time for a probation violation related to cocaine use, the legitimacy of Johnson's added two years in prison is being questioned by the public. Many wonder if Johnson's sentencing is unconstitutional and if it goes against the right to free speech. The American Civil Liberties Union, which is backing Johnson, maintained that "We [shouldn't] punish bad thoughts in America." However, not all speech is protected under the Constitution. Florida state law deems it a third-degree felony to harm or threaten to harm public servants, their families, or people they care about.
Discontent with police officers, however, is nothing new in the rap genre. More than 20 years ago, N.W.A.Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg's
Previously, Johnson could not obtain a lawyer, but he has recently obtained one, as well as the support of the ACLU. is facing a two-year sentence for the aggressive lyrics he used in the song. boldly challenged authorities with their protest record "Fuck Tha Police" while "Deep Cover" years later talked explicity about murdering police officials.
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Perhaps the most crucial element of a successful prosecution is introducing the jury to the real defendant. Invariably, by the time the jury sees the defendant at trial, his hair has grown out to a normal length, his clothes are nicely tailored, and he will have taken on the aura of an altar boy. But the real defendant is a criminal wearing a do-rag and throwing a gang sign. Gang evidence can take a prosecutor a long way toward introducing that jury to that person. Through photographs, letters, notes, and even music lyrics, prosecutors can invade and exploit the defendant's true personality. Gang investigators should focus on these items of evidence during search warrants and arrests. 2- From Prosecuting Gang Cases: What Local Prosecutors Need to Know (2004)
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Lyrics have played a prominent role in cases with the highest stakes - capital punishment cases. United States v. Wilson and Commonwealth v. Neblett are representative of the judicial treatment of lyrics written by defendants. In Wilson, the defendant was charged with capital crimes for shooting in the back of the head and killing two law enforcement officers. When the defendant was arrested, law enforcement recovered the following rap music lyrics written by the defendant:
Come teast Rated U Better have that vast and dat Golock/Leavea 45 slogs in da back of ya head cause I'm getting dat bread I ain't goin stop to I'm dead.
The prosecution claimed that the lyrics constituted the defendant's confession to the shootings. The court agreed and admitted the lyrics as substantive evidence during the prosecution's case in chief during the guilt phase of the trial.
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